


Revisions To A 'Dear Writer' Letter, Yuletide 2035.

by Lanna Michaels (lannamichaels)



Category: The Martian - Andy Weir
Genre: 2016 Yuletide, 5 Things, Dear Writer Letters, Epistolary, Fandom, Fandom Culture, Fic Exchange Culture, Gen, POV Original Character, POV Outsider, Podfic Available, The Impact Of Mark Watney On Popular Culture Is A Thesis Waiting To Happen, Work Contains Fandom Elements, Yuletide, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-10 17:09:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8925376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lannamichaels/pseuds/Lanna%20Michaels
Summary: To whoever matched me on NASA RPF and didn't just now default, you are my hero.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aishuu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aishuu/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide, aishuu! I loved your prompts in your letter. I played around slightly with the canon timeline and shortened things a little. Thanks to yeomanrand for the beta, and thank you, Andy Weir, for making the Ares 3 mission happen during prime Yuletide season.

1\. _September 20, 2035_

NASA RPF:

Oh hai, Ares mission crews, I love you. It's a bit of a theme, but this year, I decided I was going to only ask for ONE of the Ares crews, and it's the current one, because I'm going to shamelessly appeal to everyone's sentiment in hopes of getting people to write me awesome treats. This stuff will be ALL OVER the news during prime treat-writing time, so please think of me while you are making your treat-writing decisions! I am also thinking of you, kind author who was assigned to me, because there will be A MARTIAN FUCKTON of source material around for you to include, or, you know, choose to ignore, whichever works.

I love this crew. I have been following them since selection and I'm still loving all the clips we get of the Ares backup astronauts doing press for it. They're all such a great team! I love and cherish all of the footage we've gotten of their training and mission prep throughout this process, and I live for the daily Hermes updates. Everyone on the crew is just so personable and always so good at communicating with the folks back home about their specialties. They're doing such a great job with outreach and education and that's even BEFORE they get to Mars! Their Hermes experiments are great in and of themselves, and I think it's a great sign of what's to come in the future from this crew.

(Let's be real, while I'm all about the Ares 3 this year, I basically had an orgasm during That Livelink Vid with the Ares 4 and Ares 2 crews popping in and out. Yeah, don't lie, you did, too. SPACE KALE FOREVER. Is it too late for me to join the SPACE BIOLOGY GUILD? I promise I will let Mark Watney crown me while he's hanging around in outer space. I'm willing to take that hit for the team.)

PROMPTS, oh right, those things called prompts. Well, as you can see from the sign-up, I am here for anyone on this crew. You don't have to include everyone if you don't want to; if you want to focus on just a couple of them, that's great! Please don't feel like you need to keep this day-to-day with the mission, I know things are gonna come close to deadlines, so don't worry. If you want to set it during the Hermes times and avoid Mars all together, that's great. If you want to extrapolate future mission dates from the date you post it, based on the mission schedule, that is also very welcome. I don't need this to be word-perfect to how the mission actually went. If I did, I'd ask for Ares 2 again! Asking for an on-going mission is scary, but also allows for some really great creativity, so please be creative!

If you're worried about being scientifically accurate and don't want to start getting into space and/or other planets, but want to really nerd out, I would love a training fic! A first meeting fic! Yeah, we all know by now how they all met, but I'm cool with AUs!

Please write something that makes you happy! (No adultery.)

&CREW

 

2\. _November 13, 2035_

NASA RPF:

FUCK EVERYTHING. 

As I posted in the comments to the admin post, if you didn't just default, you're my hero, but if you DID just default, I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND and I support your decision 100%.

If you are still here, though, check out my other requests, a couple of them are short canons. I'll try to update this letter in the next couple days with more details about this fandom in particular.

I'm really sorry, everyone. Group hug?

 

3\. _November 16, 2035_

NASA RPF:

Are we here? Is everyone okay? Are we all present and accounted for? A;LKSJDF;ALKSJFD;LAKJSD;LFKJA

Okay, I'm not okay, but if you didn't default, I owe it to you to uphold my part of the bargain. Everything in my first draft, everything stricken out above? All of that still holds true. I love this crew, all of them, and I love their commitment and their _drive_. Please write me something joyful. Please don't dwell on tragedy. There will be a lot of time and places for tragedy, but Mark Watney did not go to Mars to be the reason no one ever goes to Mars again. He did not go to Mars to donate his name to tragedy. He did not go so he could be used against the very thing everyone involved in this mission has fought so hard for, for so long.

Mark Watney went to Mars because _it's Mars_. It's another planet. It's all over his interviews and his videos, it's over every event he did with schoolkids. Mark Watney went to Mars in the spirit of scientific inquiry, Mark Watney went to Mars to advance human knowledge, Mark Watney went to Mars **BECAUSE IT WAS COOL**.

I support Mark Watney and I support his endeavors and I support what he lost his life in doing.

If you don't want to include Mark in your fic, well, the pinch hits list is full of people who, like me, are probably crying a lot right now. I respect them and I respect their decisions. But I haven't gone to pinch hits yet, so if you matched me on NASA RPF, that means you're still here. So I'm still here, too.

Please give me the crew. Please give them in happier times. Give me them doing what they love. Give me them being who they are. And if you do decide to put Mark into your fic, do it while remembering who he was, what he did, and ignore how he died. There will be a ton of hearings about what happened, it'll be all over the news. Just, for now, if you're going to give me Mark Watney, give me a Mark Watney who chose to go to Mars, who knew the risks, and who did it anyway.

(Do Not Want list above has been updated to include funerals.)

 

4\. _December 01, 2035_

NASA RPF:

If you were matched on this fandom and you're still reading this: I don't know what to say to you anymore. Thank you for not defaulting. If you're still reading this, you probably want to know if my Do Not Wants have changed, or things like that.

Dear author, my dear dear author, I don't know what to tell you anymore.

We're not dreaming. Watney's alive. But he's stranded, abandoned, alone, and we haven't found a way yet to talk to him. I don't know how soon we'll be able to, if it'll be soon enough.

Please write what you were going to write. I promise you I will love it and I will read it and I will cherish it.

Just, please, no magic wand waving magic solution where Mark makes it back home and the crew hug him, I don't think I could take it right now. In fact, maybe just... let's maybe just leave Mark out of this. Or maybe leave Mars out of this.

How about a coffeeshop AU?

 

5\. _December 20, 2035_

NASA RPF:

I know you've posted so you're not still reading this, and I promise you that I will leave you the best and longest comment, but I just want you to know that I saw the gift today and shook it until the tags fell out and I am totally with you, fuck real life, let's write happy Vomit Comet times. Who needs Mars when we have happy Vomit Comet times. I look forward to reading this. ♥

 

+1. _Dear Author 2037_

Ares 3 RPF:

PLEASE WRITE ME MARK WATNEY EATING A POTATO IN IDAHO. 

AN IDAHO POTATO.

AN IDAHO POTATO IN IDAHO.

YAY.

**Author's Note:**

> [Yuletide Reveal Post](https://lannamichaels.dreamwidth.org/954443.html)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [To Watney (v.)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9073810) by [Yeomanrand](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yeomanrand/pseuds/Yeomanrand)
  * [[Podfic] Revisions To A 'Dear Writer' Letter, Yuletide 2035.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9218144) by [Shmaylor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shmaylor/pseuds/Shmaylor)




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